Kazakhstan in the Making

Marlene Laruelle is research professor, director of the Central Asia Program, and associate director of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at the Elliott School of International Affairs of George Washington University.

• Introduction, Marlene LaruellePart I: The State: Ruling Mechanisms and SymbolsChapter 1: The Rule by Law: Negotiating Stability in Kazakhstan, Assel TutumluChapter 2: The Kazakh Neopatrimonial Regime: Balancing Uncertainties among the Family, Oligarchs, and Technocrats, Sebastien PeyrouseChapter 3: Shrek Meets the President: Magical Authoritarianism in a Fairy-Tale City, Mateusz LaszczkowskiChapter 4: Shrine and Neopatrimonialism in southern Kazakhstan, Wendell Schwab and Ulan BigozhinPart II: The Nation: Conflicting Legitimacies and RepertoiresChapter 5: Nationalizing Elites and Regimes: Nation-building in Post-Soviet Authoritarian and Democratic Contexts, Diana T. KudaibergenovaChapter 6: Imagining Kazakhstani-stan: Negotiations of Homeland and Titular-Nationality, Alexander C. DienerChapter 7: Which Future for National-Patriots?: The Landscape of Kazakh Nationalism, Marlene LaruelleChapter 8: Cowboys, Gangsters, and Rural Bumpkins: Constructing the “Other” in Kazakhstan’s “Texas,” Natalie R. Koch and Kristopher WhitePart III: The Society: Negotiating Cultural ChangesChapter 9: Islam in Good Taste: About Suitable Forms of Public Religiosity, Alima BissenovaChapter 10: The “Spirit of Tengri’: Spirituality, Nationalism, and Emerging Trends in Kazakh Ethno-Pop, Megan RancierChapter 11: Return Migration from the United States: Exploring the Dynamics of Cultural Change in Kazakhstan, Douglas Blum

This book fills a gap in the literature by providing a scholarly depth in tandem with a multidisciplinary outlook on Kazakhstani politics that accounts for important socio-political drivers, while looking beyond the country’s resource bounty that preoccupies many studies on Kazakhstan. As editor, Marlene Laruelle has succeeded in bringing together a strong cast of contributors, including well-established and talented emerging scholars from both Kazakhstan and the wider world. A range of audiences will be well served by this book: on the one hand, it provides those new to the study of Kazakhstan with a clear introduction to the central themes and issues animating contemporary Kazakhstan political life; on the other hand, those more familiar with the country and its people will also find the empirical detail insightful.... Although the volume brings together contributions on a wider range of topics and employing diverse methodological approaches, it retains an admirable degree of coherence as all chapters work to address core issues salient to understanding the political dynamics of today’s Kazakhstan.... Readers will get a taste of the diverse dynamics of Kazakhstan’s contemporary development, and some satisfyingly detailed insights into facets of this geopolitically significant but as yet under-researched state.